Thursday, March 23, 2017

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

“The Truth will set you free.”These words of Jesus, quoted by the Apostle
John in the eighth chapter of his
Gospel, are some of the most powerful and yet most difficult to embrace in all
of the New Testament.The Jews who first
heard these words argued with Jesus: as God’s chosen people, they have never
been enslaved by anyone and are already free!Their response was remarkably short-sighted—their ancestors had in fact
endured centuries of slavery in Egypt, and they were at this time under the
oppressive rule of the Roman Empire.Their response is also illuminating—if we are to appreciate Jesus’s
words, we must be willing to admit that we are in need of the freeing power of
Christ.

I am not certain that we appreciate our need of Christ’s
freeing work in us and on our behalf any more than his original audience.Kay Arthur, author of Precept Bible study
materials, has observed that the “5 W’s” used by journalists can be very helpful
in pursuing a deeper understanding of Scripture.I would like to use the 5 W’s—Who, What,
When, Where, Why—to deepen our understanding of this crucial passage and enable
us to better apply it to our lives of faith.

There are two “whos” in this passage.First, is the Truth.Truth is not merely an inanimate fact or
force.Jesus proclaims that He is the
Truth.Jesus, as Lord and Creator of the
universe, is the ultimate fact.But He
is also a personal Savior and the only source of genuine, eternal freedom.The driving force of freedom is a Person,
Jesus Christ.And, Jesus offers us, in
personal relationship with Him, access to the freedom He offers and desires us
to experience.We must interact with
Christ in order for the Truth to have its effect, freedom.Freedom flourishes, then, when the two “whos” interact in concert.That interaction requires what many of the
original hearers lacked: faith.By faith
we—you and I—can be made free by the ultimate Truth, Jesus Christ.

The original hearers of Jesus’s offer of freedom clearly did
not see any “what” attached to His words and could not envision any bonds that
inhibited their freedom.They did not
connect to Jesus as the Truth and so could not grasp their enslavement and need
for freedom.Identifying the essential
“what” in this passage requires us to ask this question: From what do we need
to be made free?It is traditional in
the evangelical Christian community to understand that Christ has freed us from
the penalty and power of our sin.In dying
on our behalf, Christ has paid the penalty of our sin, the veil was torn, and
we have access to God by faith in Christ’s work on the cross.We are no longer counted as sinners but
declared righteous.And although we are
still in the world and struggling with our sin nature and all the temptations a
fallen world offers, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower us to
overcome the power of sin in our lives as we are progressively sanctified.

While it would be impossible to overestimate the significance
of these freedoms, it would be short-sighted to limit our concept of
freedom-in-Christ to these doctrines.I
would like for us to consider that as bond-servants of Christ, we have enormous
freedom.We are free from the opinions
and expectations of others, even (or especially) ourselves.We are called to follow and serve our Master,
and no one or nothing else.This means
that we are free from the definitions of success that surround us.The world would have us see success through
the lens of ancestry, education, career, socio-economic status, fame, wealth,
power.But lest we think that we in the
church are immune to inappropriate parameters of success, we need to consider
the subtle ways we absorb “Christian” definitions of success:Good Christians attend Bible college, go on
missions trips, tithe, serve on multiple committees, teach Sunday School, have
a lengthy quiet time first thing every morning, abstain from alcohol,
card-playing, dancing, R-rated movies, never shop or go to a movie on Sundays,
and are always willing to sacrifice their resources for the sake of
ministry.Of course, our faith must be
expressed in love, service, and obedience, and none of the above behaviors are
necessarily inappropriate.But if we are
serving an expectation of Godliness
instead of following our Master as we grow a love relationship with Him, we
will become enslaved to Christian duty and self-righteousness.

The “what” of freedom has limitless boundaries as the world
provides limitless opportunities to become ensnared.We can be bound to substances, to relationships,
to particular forms of entertainment and recreation (both appropriate and
inappropriate); we can be bound by the past, by fear, by ignorance and
prejudice, and by selfishness.No one on
this side of the kingdom is immune.The
freedom offered by Christ is not to be taken lightly.

The “when” and “where” of Christ’s words is a wonderfully
refreshing concept.Although Christ
uttered His proclamation of freedom in a particular location at a particular
day and time in history, the truth of His statement applies to all times and to
all places.God’s truth is universally
true at all times and at all places.This is good news for us!Regardless of our circumstances, wherever we are, whenever we are challenged
with bondage, Christ wants to make us free.The difficult part of the “when” and “where” is that these concepts
themselves have a “when” and “where” to them.They represent a “here and now” as well as a “not until eternity in
heaven.”We can access Christ as the
Truth here and now, as we seek the work of Christ in us, but we will experience
full freedom only in the end, in heaven.A reason to hope and persevere.

Finally, we look at the “why” of this passage.Why does Christ place value on freedom and
make it a point to proclaim it and offer it to us?I think that there are many angles from which
to view this question, but I believe there are two elements that are
particularly significant to us in our everyday lives.First, the Lord loves us and wants the best
for us.Bondage of any kind restricts
and limits us.It prevents us from fully
enjoying His creation and the world in which He has placed us.He desires our freedom so that we can fully
embrace what He has for us.Second, the
Lord is a relational God.The Trinity
enjoys total intimacy, and we were created in His image, to share in that
relationship, with Him and with one another.Again, bondage restricts our ability to fully engage in relationship,
our capacity to love.If we are serving
any master other than Christ, our heart is divided and we cannot fully partake
of the nature of Christ and fully participate in His kingdom here on
earth.Christ wants to make us free so
that He can enjoy an undiluted relationship with us and so that we can
experience the same with others.